Waterfowl decoy devices have been in use since prehistoric times for the purpose of luring live waterfowl within range of the hunter for capture. There was very little development in decoys over the centuries other than improved morphological detail which was enhanced by the introduction of plastic molding during the 1940's. Historically it has been known that motion, which is a strong lure, can be imparted to decoys by the crude method whereby a hunter jerks a line attacked to decoys. This method is still practiced today because it is effective in an environment where there is no water current, little floating vegetation, and a stationary hunting blind. If these conditions do not exist, the decoy may quickly become fouled in vegetation and thus requires constant tending. This problem similarly impacts many mechanical decoys.
Because there is normally no motion or water disturbance in prior art decoy spreads, live waterfowl learn to avoid these artificial decoy spreads unless the hunter can employ some method to create motion, particularly late in the hunting season. This has created an impetus to develop realistic motion producing decoys to replace or supplement the string jerk method. Early innovations were crude devices, but with the advent of miniaturization and solid-state technology, the field of mechanical decoys has quickly expanded. Patents have been granted for waterfowl decoys that are propelled by water pumps, sculling paddles, and propellers. Patents have also been granted for waterfowl decoy motion produced by moving heads, splashing paddles, splashing wings, tilting bodies and eccentric weight movement. Also there is a variety of waterfowl decoys available with spinning wings that are mounted on floating platform, or stakes.
All the above decoy devices can be effective waterfowl lures because they produce motion, but each has deficiencies. The self-propelled devices often become entangled in floating vegetation and cease to function. The spinning wing variety are very effective on naive waterfowl, but are avoided as the hunting season progresses because the motion these devices produce is recognizably artificial by the birds. Many of these designs are delicate, and may require as much as 10 minutes for assembly and deployment. Finally, none are completely waterproof. Thus there is a need for a mechanical waterfowl decoy, that is durable, waterproof, easy to deploy, and produces a realistic motion and water ripples in floating vegetation.